Expert Help and Advice 

A lot of important decisions need to be made when building a new custom home. Making the right decisions can make the process enjoyable and less stressful. They also help construction proceed more efficiently as well as minimize the risk of making mistakes. 

We have built hundreds of different designs of homes on a variety of different properties. This experience and know-how is a fundamental part of what you get when you work with LCS. Our team takes you through the whole process and gives you advice you can trust. 

Your Project Advisor will start working with you to determine that the design you want can be built on your site and how much it will cost to do so. 

This means looking at your site and any improvements necessary, checking your ability to meet zoning and approval requirements and determining that the costs to build your home are generally in line with your budget. 

Once this is done, the Project Management Team will detail all the specific work that is needed to bring your project to completion. The costs involved can now be included as part of a realistic working budget. This work is then described in detail along with the cost of performing it. This detailed scope of work is a key element of the contract between LCS and the customer. 

Detailed Scope of Work 

There are a lot of trades involved in building a custom home. They often work independently and not in a coordinated manner. Unless you can see the whole sequence of work, it is easy to miss significant budget items. 

Having a clearly detailed scope of work based on your chosen design and taking into account the characteristics of your site is therefore extremely important. It outlines all the tasks that need to be completed at each stage of the project to reach a successful result. 

The LCS scope of work shows everything that should be included as well as the associated cost.  You are able to see what is involved and the financial impact of any change decisions you may choose to make. The finalized scope of work becomes an integral part of a proper written contract. 

Proper Written Contracts 

The contract defines the legal obligations of the builder and the customer. The work to be done is itemized and a corresponding payment schedule based on performance milestones. The wording should be clear, so misinterpretations are avoided. Poorly worded contracts are usually the reason for disputes between customers and builders. 

Both parties to the contract must be able to fulfill their promises. The key one for builders is to be able to perform specified work at the stated price. Their guarantee is only as good as their intent and financial ability to honour it. Many small builders have limited ability or resources to make good if they have under-bid on contracts. 

LCS is a substantial company with many years in business. Our financial strength is evidenced by the substantial guarantees needed to support so many new home warranties. We have an unblemished reputation for completing work on the terms we promise. 

Better Pricing 

We have a large number of construction crews working at any given time. Our commitment to our people is to keep them in consistent work. In return, they give us preferential pricing compared to other local builders. The benefit is passed on to our customers. 

It is important for us to keep our builders as busy as possible as downtime is costly for everyone. Accordingly, we use sophisticated planning software to make sure that workflow is continuous. A key part of this is our ability to schedule jobs so that they are started on time. This works for both our trades and our customers. 

Our whole process allows us to build extremely efficiently and offer highly competitive pricing. We do not raise prices to take advantage of local shortages and maintain a consistent high-value pricing structure as we are in business for the long haul. 

Our objective is to grow our business and satisfy our customers. This consistent approach has enabled us to become the largest custom home builder in Canada, with many projects coming as a result of referrals from satisfied customers. 

Fast Construction With Minimal Risk 

LCS is a full-service builder. We take your project from beginning to end and have a vested interest in seeing it through to completion as quickly as possible. This means making sure that all necessary work is completed in time to start the next stage of construction as quickly as possible. 

In the current market, key outside resources such as engineers or surveyors are in short supply. As a major industry player, LCS has priority status with these resources and other suppliers so we can move projects ahead more quickly than other builders.  

We also have a large group of experienced local builders and a network of skilled trades available to work on projects for our customers. These are supervised by highly experienced senior project managers who schedule the resources needed to get your home built faster and at the best possible price. 

As a result, LCS is one of the few builders that offers customers the ability to fix the price of a large component of their project. This commitment is detailed in each written contract. Of course, contracts are only as good as the ability of the parties to support them. Unlike many of our competitors, we are able to back up our performance with major financial strength to minimize your risk.